


Spotlight

by kieranislame



Category: Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Theatre, And Jesper doesn't like it, Angst, Child Abuse, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Minor Violence, More tags to be added, Wylan gets the part Jesper wants, just as a tw, probably some other ships in the background, that's a thing in this fic, there will be a lot of it, wesper
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-07-29 12:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7684465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kieranislame/pseuds/kieranislame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new student arrives at Ketterdam Senior High School just days before auditions and casting for the fall play.  And wouldn't you know it?  He gets one of the most major roles in the show, much to the dismay of the local star, Jesper.  But he isn't going to lay down and accept his place in the background.  If he can cause enough misfortune for this unsuspecting boy, he's certain he'll find himself back in the spotlight.  But things don't go exactly to plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _Wylan. So that was his name. It definitely sounded like the name of a show-stealing heart-crusher._

Jesper was a generally optimistic young person. It was a part of his charm. He never let the little setbacks get him down. Or at least, he tried not to. This little set back was just irking him a bit more than usual.

Okay, so he was completely pissed off. He'd been on and uninterrupted golden streak of lead roles for the past two years. He was practically a local celebrity. And now he was Tree #3. Well, the actual name for his character was "student," but "nondescript character with no lines" seemed more accurate. Some new kid in the grade below him had landed the role he'd auditioned for. Jesper had passive-aggressively complained about it to his teacher. She'd caved in and allowed him to be the understudy. Whether it was out of pity or to shut him up, he couldn't tell, but it was good enough. He'd begun to develop a plan to get himself back in the spotlight.

The word was that this guy had little experience. Cheerful, kindhearted Jesper only wanted the best for a fellow budding star, of course. Why not offer to teach him a thing or two? The drama teacher had fallen for Jesper's ever-winning smile and told him he could absolutely mentor Wylan. She would notify him to meet Jesper backstage after school.

Wylan. So that was his name. It definitely sounded like the name of a show-stealing heart-crusher.

When the last bell rang, Jesper had to make himself walk at a normal pace rather than sprint across campus. He wrestled through the crowded hallway where the majority of the students were moving towards the parking lot, in the opposite direction he was. When the auditorium came into view, he could no longer contain himself. The last few yards of his trip were completed at a jog. He gave himself a shake before opening the back door. His over-energetic tendencies had him worked up. It wouldn't be a good look to introduce himself twitching and talking a mile a minute.

There was a short hall ending in two doors, one leading to the house and one to the right backstage area. Jesper reached for the backstage door, but it flew open before he could touch the handle, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin.

 

“Nina! You gave me a heart attack,” he clutched his chest.

“He's _adorable,"_ Nina said, clutching Jesper by the shoulders. “I'm betting he'll be the next heartthrob every freshman girl will be swooning over by opening night.”

“Tsk, tsk, you know Ketterdam High has a strict no-betting policy.”

“So what? They haven't expelled you yet.”

He grinned. “That's because I don't go around seizing people and gushing about every wager I make.”

She rolled her eyes, gave him a tight hug, and headed off down the hall with a rushed “see you tomorrow!”

 

The kid he was assuming was Wylan was sat on one of the stools outside of the dressing room, drawing. He looked up from his sketchbook as Jesper approached. Nina was right. He had a soft face, thick curls, bright eyes, and skin abundantly covered in freckles. He gave Jesper a shy attempt at a friendly smile.

 

“Are you the student I was told to meet? Jesper, was it?”

Who the hell talked like that? “That's me. That means you're Wylan,” he decided to test the waters and gave him a once-over. “So, other than your flawless appearance, what drew you to our humble stage?”

Wylan blinked. “My… what?”

“Don't act unaware. If you're going to be that attractive, you have to at least be arrogant about it. It's not fair to be flawless.”

“I'm not sure I'm following...”

Jesper tried not to laugh. If he really was this oblivious, this was going to be easy. “It's a compliment. Take it.”

Wylan's face flushed a bit. “Thank you?”

“No problem. You didn't answer my original question, though.”

“Oh, right. It was Nina, mostly. Nina Zenik. She was in the office the day I was being transferred. She started talking to me and said I should select drama as my elective so that we could be together. I don't really know anyone who attends this school, so,” he shrugged and closed up his sketchbook. “I'm taking what I can get.”

 

So he'd just stumbled in on a whim and happened to land the lead. How fortunate.

 

Jesper nodded. “Do you have any stage experience at all?"

“Well, yes, but nothing like this. Musical performances, mostly. I play flute.”

“So you were in band at your old school?”

“I guess you could say that,” he mumbled as he put his sketchbook into his bag.

“Uh,” Jesper said, confused. “Okay, then. Where did you go before here, anyway?”

“No where. Private school,” he pushed his bag under the stool and stood. “Let's go ahead and work on this.”

“All right,” this kid was odd. He seemed smart enough, but still kind of clueless. And he didn't really strike Jesper as the type of person you'd see at a school like this. The private school sort of explained that, but there was something else he couldn't place.

 

They discussed some general concepts, Jesper answering Wylan's questions and giving him a little tour of their school's stage and equipment. Since after school rehearsals hadn't started yet and scripts weren't being distributed until tomorrow, there wasn't much to go over. They exchanged information and set another meeting time before going their separate ways.

On his way home, Jesper couldn't shake the feeling that he recognized Wylan from somewhere else. Maybe he'd just seen him around or he knew a family member of his, but there was something distinctly familiar about his face.

~~

Wylan walked home, far too embarrassed to be picked up in whatever the hell anyone that was available would be driving. It was only a few miles, and if he really couldn't handle it, there was always the public bus. For a student having transferred a few weeks into the school year, he though he was doing pretty well. He already had two friends within one week, and this Jesper seemed nice enough. Not to mention he was more than happy to have an excuse to stay away from home longer. The decision to walk may have had something to do with that as well. By the time he reached his gate, it was coming up on 4:00 PM. As he was punching in the code, his phone buzzed in his pocket. A pang of fear coursed through him. He fumbled to answer it quickly.

 

“Hello?” he said while he hurried through the gate. Despite the fact that his long walk had tired him out, he started to jog.

“No, no, I'm almost there-- Yes. Um, I walked,” he cringed and held the phone a few centimeters away from his face. Anyone near him could have heard the yelling from the other end. “Yes, walked. I didn't know if anyo--” he was cut off by another exclamation. “Y-yes, sir. I'm coming up on the house right now. I-- Yes, sir. I won't,” he swallowed. The sweat that was causing his shirt to cling to his back had little to do with the exercise. He climbed the steps two at a time as he continued to listen to the ranting. The call suddenly ended. He shoved his phone back into his pocket and slowly reached out to hit the buzzer.

 

The angry voice from a moment ago came again through the speaker. “Get inside now. I have half a mind to lock you in your room for the night the moment you close the door behind you.”

 

Wylan rushed through the door and practically ran to the staircase. He stumbled on the stairs in his hurry, catching himself and continuing down the hall. When he came to his father's office, he knocked carefully.

 

"Come in,” his father snapped from the other side. He opened the door and stepped inside, carefully closing it behind him. He swallowed again and turned to face his father. They looked at each other for a moment in silence, each waiting for the other to speak.

Wylan caved in first. “I'm sorry, it was late and I thought everyone would be busy and I didn't want to disturb whatever you were doing so I just thought--”

“Don't think. You're awful at it. And don't you feed me all of that. You're ashamed of your family, aren't you?”

“No, sir, I only--”

_“Aren't you?”_

Wylan hesitated. He wasn't getting out of this, but he could make it at least a bit better if he chose the right words. “It's only that… well, most of the other kids down there take the bus or walk home. They aren't like us.”

“You put yourself in there with them. You know that, don't you?”

Wylan dropped his eyes to the floor. “Yes, sir.”

“Look at me when you speak to me.”

He kept his chin tucked, but he lifted his gaze back up to meet his father's. “Yes, sir.”

“Go.”

 

There was no need to tell him twice. He turned and rushed from the room in such a hurry he accidentally slammed the door. He cringed, waiting for his father to say something about it. It didn't come. He exhaled and continued to the staircase up to the next floor. There wouldn't be any need to lock him in. He'd stay here until tomorrow on his own. His bag fell to the floor with a soft thump and he laid back on his bed. Luck was on his side today. That could have gone a lot worse. He'd let his eyes close as he lay there breathing slowly. Just as sleep was starting to creep up on him, his phone vibrated again. He grunted and brought it to his face to look at it. Jesper had messaged him.

_same time tomorrow?_

_Sure._

_bring ur script_

_I will._

Wylan set his phone beside him and rolled over to resume his nap. Homework could wait.


	2. Chapter 2

The world was so cruel to the good and pure. How could such an innocent person find himself in such a painfully unfair situation? Not to say that Jesper wasn't capable of facing competition, but he was only a human. Which was an unfortunate thing to be when the competition was an angel. What else could this kid possibly be if he sounded like that? Ridiculous.

Now , after the entire cast had rehearsed a song together, Jesper could quite clearly understand why Wylan had gotten the role he did. It was discouraging. This was going to take twice the effort than he had originally thought. Maybe he should take an extra day to come up with a more elaborate plan. An idea was coming together, but it wasn't something he could do right this minute. He needed to get to the library.

When rehearsal ended, Jesper pulled out his phone and stared at the screen as if he were reading a message. He pulled a frown, hoping it was convincing enough, and looked up at Wylan as he approached.

 

“So sorry, but something just came up. I have to get home,” he lied. “I wouldn't want to inconvenience your family. Can I drive you home?”

Wylan shook his head quickly. “Oh, no, no, that won't be necessary. It's no big deal. I'll wait for my ride.”

“Are you sure? It won't matter too much if you don't live very far out of my way. Where--”

“No,” Wylan said firmly. “I'll wait. I can't go with you.”

"What, like you aren't allowed to?”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

What the hell. Was he always like this? “Can't you just call someone?”

Wylan shook his head. “I can't.”

“Why not?”

“I just can't. It's all right, just go home and take care of things. Next time.”

Oh, well. Jesper decided to just let it go. For whatever reason, he wasn't budging. “If you're sure, then. I'll let you know details for next time when I can.”

“Sure. See you next practice if not before then.”

 

Jesper left the auditorium and went to his car. On his way to the library, he compared yesterday's interaction with today's. This was the second time Wylan had been completely set on keeping seemingly unimportant information secret. He had to be some kind of paranoid. Or maybe he did have something to hide. It might be fun to solve the puzzle of What is Wylan's Deal while trying to successfully complete Operation: Get Back in the Spotlight. Jesper did enjoy a good challenge, and here Wylan was giving him all sorts of opportunities.

Once he arrived in the parking lot of the library, Jesper nearly fell out of his car and rushed inside. His sudden entrance gained him a few irritated stares. He smiled and ducked his head as he made his way to a computer station. This was so mean, but it was so fun. And it would be so exciting if it actually worked, maybe even more exciting if it didn't and he had to weasel his way out of it. Good Lord, his parents deserved a better son. He pulled up his school's website and went to the tab were students could find information about clubs. Schedules for practices were available for download, but teachers also handed out printed copies. In drama especially. She had a rather strict no-missing-rehearsal policy. Unless you told her ahead of time, if you weren't there, there was a good chance you were out of the production. Jesper shook his head at himself, bouncing his leg as he copied the table of the upcoming rehearsals and pasted it into a word document. He deleted some rows and changed the dates on some others. If a student were to follow this schedule, he would miss two rehearsals and show up to one that wasn't happening. That would be more than enough to bring down the wrath. 

Jesper sent the document to the printer and stood up so quickly that his chair clattered loudly behind him. Nearly everyone in the library turned to glare at him. He acted unaware as he righted the chair and went over to the printing station. After selecting his file and inserting a quarter, he drummed his fingers on the top of the machine while he waited for it print. Once it was finally done, he snatched it up and left. Bless Wylan's heart. This was so perfectly cruel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this update took so long. My internet has been giving me a hard time lately so I can't get on often. I know its short! Don't worry, chapter three is actually well on its way to being finished. If the internet gods have mercy on me, it should be up in the next couple days.


	3. Chapter 3

The day had finally come. It was once again time to stay after school with the show-stealing heart-crusher himself. Now that there had been about a week's time and three full-cast rehearsals, Jesper and Wylan actually had some things to work on. Well, mostly Wylan, seeing as Jesper only really sang with the entire chorus. What a terrible thing. No matter; that was about to change.

Wylan was outside the dressing room where he'd been last time, but he wasn't drawing now. He was just sitting on the floor hugging his legs and resting his chin on his knees with his eyes closed. Jesper had seen him trudging through the hallway today with a look on his face like he'd rather be in bed than anywhere else. Perfect. He was less likely to catch Jesper if he was drowsy.

 

“Rise and shine,” Jesper sing-songed. Contrary to Wylan's apparent exhaustion, Jesper was buzzing with energy. Which wasn't really anything out of the ordinary, but he was particularly lively right now. The nervousness that came along with what he was planning was pumping through his veins. He only hoped Wylan didn't know him well enough yet to realize the bounciness meant he was up to something.

Wylan lifted his head slowly and looked up at Jesper. He half-smiled, causing the bags under his eyes to wrinkle. “Hi. Sorry I'm such a mess right now. Long night.”

“No problem at all, as long as your voice isn't tired,” Jesper made a show of offering him a hand up, swinging his arm down in a dramatic arc. Wylan inhaled a sharp gasp and lifted his arm like he was shielding himself. Jesper pulled back a bit. “Woah, calm down. What did you think I was going to do, knock you out the rest of the way?

“Oh,” Wylan said, carefully taking a hold of Jesper's wrist and pulling himself to his feet. “No. I don't know. Tired and on edge, I guess.”

“Hopefully I've startled you awake at least. Do you have your CD? I think I left mine at home,” a convenient act of forgetfulness.

Wylan dragged his bag towards himself and looked through his things. He took out a binder labeled “Theatre” and his copy of the script. “It's in my locker. I can go get it.”

“Would you? You don't have to, but since we haven't gotten too far into blocking I'm not sure what else we could work on.”

“I'll go and get it,” Wylan said and put his things back into his bag. “I'll be back in a minute.”

 

Jesper waited a few moments after he heard the outside click shut behind Wylan before launching into action. He took his bag off of his shoulder and got out a pen and the fake schedule he'd printed, then he picked up Wylan's bag and took the binder back out. Everything was so perfectly organized that he had to stop for a minute. If he messed anything up, it would be obvious that he'd been in Wylan's stuff. He flipped the notebook that was clipped in and saw Wylan's schedule folded neatly in the back pocket of the binder. He took it out and opened up so he could trace Wylan's name. At first glance, Jesper smiled a little. For such a nerdy guy, Wylan had some pretty childish handwriting. But once he deciphered what he was looking at, he went still. No way. That had to be coincidental. There could be another Van Eck in the area. Wylan was no where near snobby enough to be that man's son. But this explained so much. It seemed he'd stumbled upon a large part of the answer to What is Wylan's Deal entirely by accident.

Shaking his head, Jesper lined up the fake schedule with the real one and traced Wylan's shaky, spaced-out name. Once he finished, he compared them side by side and nodded in satisfaction before carefully putting everything back into place. He crumbled up the real schedule and shoved it into the bottom of his own bag. How could he subtly ask what he was now dying to know? There was no possible outcome that would be pleasant.

A minute later Wylan returned, dragging himself through the door holding up the sleeve with his disc in it.

 

“Perfect,” Jesper took the disc from him and popped it into the CD player in the old radio that was plugged in on the currently empty prop table. “You have a great voice, but you need to practice how to use it in this kind of setting. The main goal is to be loud enough for the people in back row to hear you without screaming and while still sounding good. You said play flute, right?” Wylan smiled and nodded. “It's time to put that breath support to good use."

 

After briefly explaining the mechanics of projecting and using head voice, Jesper listened to Wylan singing. It was hard to remind himself to interrupt him to comment and teach ―and harder to remind himself he didn't actually have to put too much effort into that since he didn't care about this anyway― when it was so much easier to just listen. So Jesper sat on the stool listening, trying to sort through the layers of what he was faking and not faking and faking faking. He'd gotten mixed up somewhere between listen to Wylan's perfect voice and remembering how to act that he'd let Wylan sing all the way through his part for this particular song.

 

“Was that good?” Wylan asked after an awkward second of the music playing and Jesper staring into space silently.

“What? Oh, yes. It was,” Good job, Fahey. Broadway-grade convincing acting and subtlety. “Wow. Just. Do you have any other music experience besides flute?”

Wylan smiled again. “Not many performances, really. I used to take private singing lessons for a few years.”

“It shows.”

His smile widened. “Thank you. I love music.”

“Well, keeping loving it. You're talent is going to take you far. It's already good enough to have gotten you a major part even though you don't have much acting experience,” Jesper was being too encouraging. But he couldn't stop himself. This was total honesty. It would be easier to act indifferent if he would stop smiling like that.

“Do you think so? I've always hoped I might be able to do something with music as a career as stupid as that sounds. I know how hard it is to make it in those areas. Not to mention my father would completely shut down the idea.”

Opportunity! “What does your father do that's so much more practical?”

The endearing and distracting smile was instantly replaced by a hard, blank expression. Wylan stood up and retrieved his disc from the player. “Business,” he said shortly.

Jesper stood, too. “Are you leaving?”

“Yes, I should get going. Thank you,” Wylan brushed passed him and went out the door before Jesper could say anything else. He stood there for a moment looking after him, not sure what to make of the reaction. Maybe he hadn't figured anything out after all.

 

~~

 

Wylan dropped the emotionless act as soon as he was by a building away from the auditorium. Panic was bubbling up in his throat, and he couldn't choke it down anymore. Everyone was so nosy. Especially Jesper. It seemed that he was always pressing Wylan for information on purpose. After today's incident with the flinching, he'd seem even more suspicious, like something to figure out. He shouldn't have listened to Nina. He should have kept her at a distance and taken anything but a performance based elective. Stupid. This was going to draw so much attention to him and that was the absolute last thing he needed, especially if what happened last night was going to become a frequent occurrence again. People would see. Jesper had been the third person today to comment on his tiredness today, after his reading teacher and that nice girl in technical theatre whose name he kept forgetting.

His breaths had started coming in short gasps, and that combined with walking this fast was making him dizzy. He stopped and leaned against a wall, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes. It probably wasn't as bad as he was making it out to be. He always thought stupid things when he was panicking. At worst, Jesper probably thought he was just some weird flinchy kid who stayed up too late playing video games last night. If he thought anything else, it was Wylan's own fault for reacting the way he did when his father was asked about. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Maybe drama would be good for him after all; he could learn how to fake it better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alas! The internet gods were somewhat merciful. I actually meant to get this up yesterday, but after I finished replying to comments, my computer decided it was time to freeze. But anyway, here it is. We'll get to some other character featuring coming up in the next few chapters.


	4. Chapter 4

The door was locked again. Wylan sighed and thumped his head against it, turning the handle back and forth uselessly. He’d thought he’d heard the click while he was practicing a new piece. All he wanted was a damn drink. He crouched down in front of it and picked at the silver solder that filled the keyhole with his short nails. It was pointless. Even if he somehow managed to unlock the door, he wouldn’t dare open it and venture into the hall when he clearly wasn’t welcome out of his room today.

 

He gave up on his picking and went over to sit at his desk. A glance at the clock made him groan as it told him it was only one o’clock. He’d made the stupid choice of sleeping through breakfast this morning, and by now he clearly wasn’t getting any lunch. How long would it be for today? It was Saturday. He had plans. His foot tapped against the floor in boredom. Moping around wasn’t going to accomplish anything, but what could he do? He wasn’t in the mood to try to go over his lines or study.

 

There was something going on downstairs. Wylan could hear some people being brought in and the sound of his father greeting them. Maybe that explained why today was a lock-in day. His father wouldn’t want him weaving in between everyone and being an embarrassment. As he sat there listening, he considered being noisy on purpose out of spite. Stomp around a bit, throw a few of those dusty, wretched books off the shelf. He thought about doing that sort of thing all the time, but he knew he’d never have the courage to anything but sit down, shut up, and stay where he was told.

 

Maybe he didn’t have to completely accept boredom, though. There were people he could talk to now. He took his phone out of his pocket and opened his messages. Nina’s conversation had been left open, and he squinted at the wall of text. It was headache inducing. Jesper at least only sent short sentences, but Nina had an inconvenient habit of texting in paragraphs. He had yet to respond to, much less decipher, her last message. He deleted the conversation all together to get rid of the confusing clutter and called her.

 

She answered on the second ring. “Hey, Wylan! Are you on your way out yet?”

Wylan could only dream he was happily leaving this house. “Ah, no. I'm sorry, I don't think I can come.”

“What?! Why not?” Nina demanded.

“I’m not allowed to go out today. Sorry. Tell everyone I said hello, though,” he said.

“Wow, why aren’t you allowed all of a sudden? Your parents are jerks,” She complained.

He snorted and glared at the doorknob. “You have no idea.”

“Can you maybe sneak out?” She asked hopefully.

“Yeah, no. That would be impossible.”

“That sucks. Oh, hey, did you ever get the last thing I sent you? You never replied.”

Wylan's face grew warm even though there was no one around. “No, it must not have gone through.”

Nina sighed. “Well, I guess it doesn't matter now, because you're a loser and you aren't coming, but if you’re going to hang out with us you’ll eventually meet them, so I was warning you about the boys.”

Wylan leaned back in his chair. “The boys?”

“Yeah, my friend you haven't met and Inej's quote unquote 'not-boyfriend.'”

Inej. That was her name. He really needed to remember that. “Let me guess, your friend's name is Matthias?”

“Yeah, how'd you know?”

He grinned. “She says the same thing about you two.”

Nina gasped. “She does not.”

Wylan giggled. “Oh, all the time.”

“I'll kill her,” Wylan giggled over her. “Stop laughing! I'll kill you, too,” she threatened, but he could hear the smile in her voice.

 

His laughter stopped short at the sound of his door unlocking. Whirling around to face the door, he fell from his chair and cringed as the impact jarred his sore ribs. He looked up from his place on the floor as the on-duty maid poked her head into his room.

 

“Your father sent me to tell you to quiet down,” She told him and frowned at his position. “Are you okay?”

Wylan's face heated up again. “Yes, you just startled me. And I fell,” He coughed and slowly stood up. “Tell him I said I apologize.”

She nodded, then gave him that humiliating look of pity. “And… he told me to lock the door back.”

He waved a dismissive hand. “Yes, of course. That's expected. Go on, I'm sure you have better things to do than waste your time speaking to me.”

 

The door closed and locked, and Wylan let out a breath. That interaction alone was exhausting enough to make him want to lay right back down where he'd fallen. Instead, he retrieved his phone, examined it for cracks, and went to his bed as he called Nina back.

“What happened?”

“Dropped my phone.”

“Oh. Where was I?”

Wylan laid back. “I think you were threatening my life.”

 

They talked for a while, Wylan mostly just prompting her when needed as she went on about everything under the sun. It was nice. He preferred to listen more than talk since he didn’t feel like he was a particularly interesting person, and Nina didn’t require many words from him. Once Inej arrived at her house, she ended their conversation with the promise that she’d talk to him again once they were back from the day’s activities.

Wylan sighed once she hung up. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation downstairs. It was mostly unintelligible and didn’t provide him with much entertainment. He sighed again and rolled over, which again triggered sharp pain in his ribs. What now? He reluctantly got up and went to his bag, taking out his laptop and script. There really wasn’t anything else to keep himself busy with. He took a seat at his desk. He opened his laptop, turned down the volume as low as it could go while still producing sound, and played the disc that he’d left in the player. Once he’d explained his situation, his teacher had been kind enough to make him an audio version of the script. He flipped open his paper copy and tried to play read-along for a while. This was one of the exercises his reading teacher told him to try, so why not kill two birds with one stone and get in some practice for two classes at once? A few minutes in Wylan found himself unable to be comfortable in any position. No matter how straight he sat up or which way he turned, there was an ache or a stabbing sensation in his side. Eventually he paused his script and went into his bathroom to assess the damage. It had been two days since it happened, and he’d been avoiding looking at it all this time, hoping denial would somehow magically decrease the severity of the injury. Some good that had done.

When he pulled up his shirt and saw the rainbow of bruises in the mirror, he swore. It looked awful. As in something that should probably receive medical attention awful. But God only knew how that would go down. He pulled his shirt back down. There was nothing he could do but be gentle with himself and pray. He opened the top drawer and retrieved his Holy Grail, a bottle of painkillers, and took two. He was already frustrated with his script, he clearly wasn't leaving this room anytime soon, and considering his injury, he should probably be resting anyway. So, he went back to his bed and do what he normally did at home; sleep.

Hours later, Wylan woke to the sound of his door creaking open. He remained still and silent and stared at it, waiting. No one came in or said anything, but he could feel the presence of someone on the other side standing there. He continued to wait, holding his breath, until he heard footsteps fade down the hall. Quietly he stood and tip-toed to the door. A quick peak out saw his father just as he disappeared down the steps. He had a silent inner celebration. Once he was certain all was clear, he could try to nonchalantly get something to drink. The quiet pressed on, so he assumed his father was occupied with something on the second floor. Time to make a break for it. He carefully walked down the hall to the staircase and descended to the first floor, stepping as lightly as he could. No one was anywhere to be seen, so he was clear to head straight to the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of water and returned to his room.

 

When he pushed his door open, he was greeted by the sound of his laptop notifying him of an incoming Skype call. If Nina was back already, he’d slept longer than he thought.

“Oh, hey,” Wylan said when to his surprise Inej appeared onscreen instead of Nina. “Where’s Nina?”

“In the bathroom. She told me to go ahead and call you,” she replied. “Good to see you’re much perkier than you were Thursday.”

“Yeah. I caught up on my sleep. Wednesday night was pretty rough.”

Inej began to say something, but Nina bounced back into the room and starting talking over her. “Hey, Wylan. What did you get grounded for anyway?”

“Oh I’m not grounded,” Wylan said as Nina came into view.

“I thought you said your parents wouldn’t let you come.”

“Yes, but I’m not grounded. My father just kind of does that sometimes I guess.”

“Weird. So, what deep gossip did you two exchange while I was out of the room?”

“I’ve told him all of your darkest secrets,” Inej said.

“Yes, I know everything. You’re exposed, Nina,” Wylan agreed.

“Not my darkest secrets! You’ve shamed me,” Nina elbowed Inej. “But that does remind me. Wylan and I were talking this afternoon. Would you like to tell me what exactly you had to say about my personal relationships?”

Inej held up her hands defensively. “I only tell what I see.”

“You see everything!” Nina cried.

Inej grinned. “Ah, and that’s how I know your darkest secrets. Even the ones you don’t think I do.”

“And Wylan doesn’t talk, so he just listened to you spill everything.”

“He talks, you just never give him the chance.”

Wylan shrugged. “She’s not wrong.”

Nina crossed her arms. “You’re ganging up on me. This isn’t a fair fight.”

Wylan rested his chin on his hand and smiled. “I really wish I could have come today. Maybe if you keep inviting me to things eventually the date will line up with one of my father’s good moods.”

“And how often do those come?” Inej asked him, her tone uncomfortably serious.

“Not very often,” Wylan admitted.

No one spoke for a moment until Nina half-shoved Inej off her chair. “Way to bring down the mood, killjoy.” Inej shoved her back, and they went back and forth for a moment. Wylan watched with a smile as they carried on. He prayed silently that next weekend would work out in his favor. He was so sick of being home all the time.

 

The conversation carried on until Inej had to leave. She’d taken down Wylan’s number, and minutes after he and Nina ended their call, his phone rang.

 

“Hey, you’re home already?”

“Yeah, Nina and I don’t live that far from each other. I was going to say something earlier, but I didn’t think I should in front of her. She presses for details.”

“What is it?”

“This is probably going to sound strange. There are certain people at our school, especially within the drama program, that only have their own best interest in mind. Things do tend to get ugly from time to time. I know we’ve only known each other for a while, but I just wanted you to know that you have a friend in me. If anything happens, I’ll side with you. I don’t want to see you have to face the popularity war on your own.”

Wylan paused for a moment. He hadn’t been expecting that at all. “Thank you. That’s probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“It’s no problem. Just watch your back. I have reason to be suspicious of someone who I think is jealous of you.”

“Jealous of me? Why?”

“You’ve risen to the top very quickly. There is… someone who’s developed a bit of a complex over time. They don’t like anyone who does better than them.”

“I’m not trying to out-do anyone.”

“I know you aren’t. I’m not saying this is your fault. If anything, it’s this person’s fault.”

“Are you going to tell me who this person is?”

“No. I don’t want you to judge them off of this. They aren’t a bad person, they’re just selfish sometimes. And I think you two will be good friends. I’m going to try to fix things before they get too messy. Just be careful, and remember that I’m more than willing to help you.”

 

~~

 

Jesper reached across his bed to grab his vibrating phone to see a message from Inej.

 

_Inej: I need to talk to you about something._

 

That was always a fun thing to receive. He racked his brain for everything he could have possibly done wrong that concerned her as he typed his reply.

 

_Jesper: something wrong?_

_Inej: I was in the dressing room last Thursday after school._

 

He felt his heart drop to his stomach and desperately prayed this wasn’t about what he thought it was about.

 

_Jesper: oh?_

_Inej: Yes. Someone has been taking advantage of our new member._

 

Of course she knew. How did she always know everything?

 

_Inej: I know you’re his mentor, so I’m telling you this because it’s supposed to be your job to help him. I’m trusting you’ll make the right decision. There’s something you need to know, though, before you decide what you’re going to do._

_Inej: Promise you’ll take this into consideration._

_Jesper: what is it?_

_Inej: Wylan has enough on his plate without you adding to it. Things are happening that you know nothing about. I’m not going to say anything to him or force you to do right, I’m just asking you to have a heart._

_Jesper: my heart swells in my chest full of abundant love for every citizen. and I dont even know what ur talking about._

_Inej: Maybe I was wrong then._

_Jesper: Well thnks for the vague advice.its always appreciated_

_Inej: Anytime._

 

Jesper exhaled. He knew he’d have her breathing down his neck trying to guilt him now, but at least she wasn’t going to instantly turn him in. He relaxed a bit, but his phone went off again.

 

_Inej: But Jesper._

_Jesper: yea?_

_Inej: When someone trusts you, you should do everything in your power to make sure you deserve it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. AM SO. SORRY!
> 
> I had this typed for a while, but I didn't post it for a couple of reasons. One, I couldn't seem to squeeze out the next chapter after this one, and I didn't think anyone would appreciate an awkward filler chapter on its own. Two, I'm very insecure about posting my stuff.
> 
> I'll try not to disappear for months again. Hope I haven't lost my small following! Enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> I want to credit the lovely tumblr user dramaqueenminyard for the idea for this story.


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